Lonely Secrets
by p-i-a-h
Summary: Hermione is spending another night alone in the Hogwarts library, shes never felt more alone since the end of the war. But her life is changed by the sudden appearance of one person, she never thought would effect her.
1. 1-Still Silent and Slow

Still, silent and slow, three words which described that night perfectly. It just so happened that these three words described Hogwarts after the war. The once solid fort which seemed to never tilt or waver had crumbled and with it so did people. Afterwards, students returned home to bury their dead and to rebuild their lives, but soon a new school year had to start. This year McGonagall was headmistress and previous students who had not completed their final years were able to continue if they wished.

Hermione Granger was one of these students; she unlike her friends wished to finish her education at Hogwarts and earn a job like everyone else. Once the war was over and done with, the ministry were keen to offer the trio any role they wanted to play in the wizarding world. Of course Harry became an Auror like he had intended too. However, her ex fiancé Ron Weasley basked in his fame, and wrote books about their adventures and personal lives, in which caused the end of his relationship with Hermione and ultimately the release of a new book.

Hogwarts seemed like an escape route, a side road where no could follow her. She was almost happy again, after the loss of so many of her friends and then the very public break up, Hogwarts was her rehab in a way.

She sat wedged on the window sill in the Library; the clock had just rang 12. The book she had been reading for the past 3 hours was finally coming to an end; _soon she would be going back to her dorm_ she thought as she could feel her eyes getting heavy in the dim light. Her eyes drew closer and closer together, until they were firmly shut.

"Granger" an agitated voice whispered. "Granger. Wake up. I know that sorry accuse of a library teacher lets you be but, Filch might not be so lean. Granger"

Hermione's eyes shot open, searching for the reason her slumber had been disturbed. The once candle lit corner was now pitch black and there in front of her was someone wearing a black polo neck t-shirt, with matching black jeans. "Malfoy!"

"Shhh." He said while putting his finger on her lips. "Do you want him to hear you?" He whispered. "He doesn't know we're here but he's going to if you don't shut up" He grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of her seat on her window.

They ran past the rows and rows of books, until he came to a sudden halt causing Hermione to run straight into his back. Hermione fell towards the ground, landing on her front. She looked up to see them in a part of the library she had never been before. It was always filled with Slytherin students; they would cover the small table and chair that occupied the aisle.

She looked up to find Malfoy lying next to her on the floor. "Are you okay?" She asked a bit too loudly, while pushing herself up.

"Whose there?" Filches voice screeched through the empty aisles. "I know you're here. There's no place to hide now."

With that Malfoy shot up, grabbed her hand, then said "Come on, Granger"

He pulled her towards the end of the aisle, past the table and chair. "Why did you bring us down here? It's a dead end." Hermione asked, staring blankly at the stone wall, letting go of Malfoys hand and crossing her arms.

"Haven't you ever been to Diagon Alley, Granger?" He pulled his wand out and tapped twice on the stone directly in front of him, then once on the stone to its left and then once again on the previous stone. The wall started to fold in on its self, opening out to the corridor on the other side. Malfoy let Hermione go through, and then hopped through the new hole in the wall after her. Hermione found herself standing on the 7th floor, in front of the entrance of the room of requirement.

Before she could say anything, a small wooden door appeared in front of them.


	2. 2-The Room of Requirement

"The Room of Requirement."

"It seems that way, Granger" Malfoy answered, standing closely behind her. "Shall we go in?" He whispered, so closely Hermione could feel his breath on the back of her ear. There was a short pause before he walked towards the door and turned the handle, he stood aside holding the wooden door open. "After you."

Hermione looked back and caught the final glimpse of the hole in the wall slowly close in on its self, and walked through the wooden doorway.

Hermione had seen many times what the room of requirement had to offer, but this was new.

She stepped inside to find herself in a rectangular shaped room with a large log fire burning brightly at the far end. In front of the fire stood a grand red armchair, there was a small red and green blanket folded over the back of the chair; next to this was a small brown sofa which was covered with again red and green pillows. The rest of the room seemed quite bare except for the walls; they were covered from the floor to the ceiling with books all neatly sitting on wooden shelves.

She walked towards the nearest bookshelf to find that she had never heard of these book titles before. As much as she wanted to go through them all, something had been on her mind since she was awoken in the Library.

She turned her head to see the blonde haired boy standing 3 feet or so to her side, he seemed to be looking for a specific book. She watched him for a while, questions forming in her mind. There he stood and he had just helped her, but he wasn't just anyone. He was Malfoy the heir to the Malfoy fortune, the famous Slytherin prince and the how could she forget Death Eater.

"Why?" the word slipped from her mouth before she could stop herself.

Draco was focused on a row of books next to her; he traced his finger along the books until he stopped on a book wrapped in what looked like some sort of silk. He pulled the book from the shelf, not looking up at Hermione.

"You'll have to be a bit clearer there, Granger" He turned and headed to the other end of the room toward the fireplace.

"Why wake me? You could have just as easily left me there and saved yourself." Hermione said, moving towards the sofa.

Draco stopped as he was about to sit on the large red armchair, and then before he sat down he looked up with smile "Why not?"

"Why not?" Hermione said, taking seat on the sofa.

"That's what I said Granger." Draco said, not looking up from his book. He had unfolded the silk like martial that surrounded the book in his hands and was now gently flicking through. He lifted a hand to the back of his head rubbing it lightly. Then he moved his hand away from his head to revile a small amount of blood on the tips of his fingers.

"That wasn't there earlier" He said, putting the book down on his lap and pulling out his wand. He now had both arms up in the air folded backwards.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, while getting out of her seat and pushing his hand away from his head.

"I was going to heal it, if that's okay with you" He said, trying to reach the back of his head but was stopped by Hermione's hands hitting his away. "I'm starting to think you like hitting me, Granger"

She pulled her wand out and moved the boy's blonde hair away from the blooded area on his head. "Well, it's not like you didn't deserve it, you're behaviour was close to barbaric."

Hermione carried on and continued to heal the small bump on the back of his head. She couldn't help but notice how soft his hair was, she had always expected it to be greasy, not that she thought about his hair that is. Thinking about it she had never thought about the way Malfoy looked, yes she knew he was attractive, everyone did. He was the only thing the girls in her dorm spoke about, but she just passed it by.

He always seemed to be bullying someone or shouting abuse at her whenever she came close to him in the past, but since the war he had changed. Not many of the Slytherins in her year returned to Hogwarts, the only ones who came back weren't rich enough to get by or didn't have powerful parents able to get them into jobs. So that's why everyone was shocked at the return of Malfoy, he didn't mix with the others in fact she had barely seen him outside of class.

"Enjoying yourself there, Granger" Malfoy voice snapping her out of her daze, she looked down to see his head healed and her hand playing with his hair. Her face grew bright shade of pink as she walked quickly, towards the exit.

"Oh, come on Granger"

She kept moving, her head staring firmly at the floor.

"Don't be like that, you can carry on if you want." Malfoys said shouting after her.

As soon as she got to the door she opened it and left quickly making sure not to look back.


End file.
